Writer, producer, comedian and actor Ayo Edebiri is set to replace Jenny Slate as the character Missy on the Netflix animated comedy Big Mouth.
This exciting announcement, debuted by Variety, comes two months after Slate’s decision to step down from the role.
“I was definitely a very uncomfortable child, so I think the show speaks to that and a lot of those feelings, which still resonate with me as an adult,” Edebiri told Variety. “I’m back home in my childhood bedroom right now and on my bookshelf in between A Series of Unfortunate Events is Bill Clinton’s autobiography and Nelson Mandela’s autobiography and a translation of ‘The Iliad’ in Latin. I was a true dork. So I don’t think I have to go too far to connect with Missy.”
In the upcoming fourth season of Big Mouth, Slate voices Missy until the penultimate episode. According to Variety, Edebiri joined the cast less than a month ago but has already recorded her fourth season dialogue. She was previously hired by the show as a writer for the fifth season.
The transition coincides with the development of Missy’s story in the forthcoming season. Show creator Jennifer Flackett spotted “a really organic and cool place” in the fourth season to bring in Edebiri.
“It’s about Missy’s continued evolution as a person — that she has all of these different parts of who she is. There’s the sidelines Missy and the more sexually adventurous Missy, mirror Missy, and then also this Missy that she’s been discovering [in Season 4] through hanging out with her cousins and really taking a look at her Black identity,” co-creator Nick Kroll told Variety.
The transition is designed to avoid “a startling change for viewers of the show,” and Edebiri said it offers a farewell to her predecessor. Slate announced her decision to step down in June, emphasizing the need for Black characters to be played by Black voice actors. Previously, Edebiri was a writer on NBC’s Sunnyside. She’s also a stand-up comedian and co-host of the podcast Iconography.
“There are lessons to be learned [from the show] and it’s growing pains — like on the show,” Edebiri told Variety, speaking of the transition. “To me, it’s nothing but exciting. As a show and as a room and as a moment, it feels like it’s happening, and hopefully it’s here to stay.”
